In light of this move, you'll recall that The Tech Report secured an independent future earlier this year. We are, as we have been since 1999, 100% free to say or write whatever we like about whoever we like. In just a couple hundred days, we will have been tracking the latest and greatest developments in PC hardware for a hard-to-fathom 20 years.

Problem is, pieces like that cost a lot of money to write and need experienced writers to produce them. Without the winds of a multinational media conglomerate at our backs, we can't do nearly as much of that in-depth analysis as we would like. We were sanguine about the challenges facing The Tech Report when we first introduced reader subscriptions four years ago, but frankly, the headwinds against independent media have only multiplied since. We are grateful to the loyal advertisers who believe in our mission and have been longtime supporters of our work, but there are only so many of those to go around.

There's a lot going on behind the scenes at TR to lay the foundation for doing more of the coverage you value and to get it out the door faster than we've ever been able to before. For just one example, our resident dev Bruno Ferreira is currently putting the finishing touches on a testing tool that will wipe away—with the click of a button—99% of the hours of manual pen-and-paper CPU benchmarking that we've been doing since I took over that role. That means we can do more in less time or cover more in the same time while providing you with the launch-day coverage that's critical for survival in this industry.

If you believe in the mission of The Tech Report and want to help us continue our independent work, it's time to step up.

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